According to TIME, the Nixon sisters became embroiled in a feud amongst themselves over how the Nixon presidential Library and Museum should be run, with each wanting different people to be on its board. This was intensified by the prospective contribution to the library of several million dollars left behind by Nixon associate Bebe Rebozo. Rebozo specified that it be used as the sisters saw fit, but the two could not agree on a use for it, and the money remained unavailable for years.
Their feud was settled privately in 2002 per the Los Angeles Times, but insufficient funds plagued the library for several more years. In 2007, the library’s funding was federalized per the insistence of Julie, as many other presidential libraries had been. Yet she and the foundation may have regretted Timothy Naftali becoming its first director under the National Archives (via The New Yorker). He made it clear that he hoped to orient the museum toward an impartial framing of Nixon’s presidency and remove any biased defenses that remained — something that his successors have made attempts to continue (via Pacific Standard Magazine).
